Manu ranks No. 16 among SI.com’s top NBA players

Spurs guard Manu Ginobili was ranked 16th by SI.com’s Point Forward in its list of the NBA’s top players.

Ginobili will end up being the Spurs’ highest rated player in the listing. Earlier, Tim Duncan was listed as No. 23 and Tony Parker was 26th.

SI.com’s Zach Lowe has been revealing the top players in the NBA in regular order over the past several days. He is judging players on their two-way abilities, regardless of salary or team context. Lowe says the listing is where the players are ranked at this moment, heading into the 2011-12 season.

“There’s almost nothing not to like about Ginobili, and had he played more minutes, I could easily have flipped him over the next guy — and perhaps even the guy after that. He’s a great all-around player who has been the driving force in San Antonio for a couple of years now. He has long been one of the league’s best big-game and big-moment players, and that ‘skill,’ to the degree that it is a skill at all, seems only to get better as Ginobili ages.

“Being ‘clutch’ probably isn’t a real, permanent skill. But players like Ginobili have an easier time appearing as clutch because they can hurt an opponent in so many ways. He can attack in isolation. He runs the pick-and-roll like an elite point guard, threading gorgeous pocket passes to Tim Duncan or using his weird hesitation dribbles and Euro-step (Manu-step?) techniques to create space. He can finish well at the rim. He hits an above-average mark from the floater range. He can make threes both off the catch and off the dribble, the latter of which is a rare skill. And when a defender overplays his left hand, Ginobili will cross him over to the right, get in the lane, cross back to his left and do something so crazy that you’ll want to re-watch it instantly.

“You can quibble with his shot selection now and then, and argue that he shouldn’t be taking more than six threes per game. Those are fair nitpicks, but they’re still nitpicks.

“On defense, Ginobili is a rangy, whip-smart 6-foot-6 creator of chaos. He is always near the top of the league in steals, and it’s easy to mistake him for an irresponsible gambler when he suddenly leaves his guy to swipe the ball from an unsuspecting sap 15 feet away. But if you watch carefully (and long enough), you realize that Ginobili’s gambles are based on his knowledge of an opposing playbook and anticipation of what action is about to happen. It’s gambling almost without risk, and Ginobili might be better at it than anyone.

“He’s also fundamentally sound, smart and active. You don’t play any other way for the Spurs. San Antonio has been one of the best two-way teams for a decade, and Ginobili has been at the center of that. The concerns about durability and minutes are legitimate, and they keep him here.”

It’s an accurate assessment of Ginobili’s relative skills and his importance to the team. Right now, Ginobili is the most valuable player on the franchise. And Ballard’s ratings reflect that influence on the team.

Here’s a listing of SI.com’s top 100 so far. The final 10 players will be revealed on Tuesday.